WIMBORNE Town director Paul Miller has claimed a £3,000 payment made up front last week to HM Revenue and Customs “staved off any immediate threat of closure of the club”.

Miller also admitted the Wessex League outfit still had a £27,000 “historical debt” to HMRC.

But he claimed they had agreed a payment plan to pay off the remaining amount during a meeting between the two parties at Wimborne 10 days ago.

The director said the current owners had “inherited the historical debt” when they took over the club and it had originally been £90,000 but had dropped to £70,000 on his Cuthbury arrival.

And Miller insisted “there is no real threat to the club because on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis we are paying the players’ wages and all the regular bills we receive.”

Miller, speaking after Wimborne chairman Ken Stewart had made public their debt dilemma in his programme notes for their clash against Romsey on Saturday, added: “Revenue and Customs called a meeting at the football club and their first words were ‘we have come to shut you down’.

“Effectively, that is what it was, but it sounds worse than it actually is.

“First of all, we gave them a cheque for £3,000 there and then to stave off immediate threat of closure, and, secondly, a payment plan has been agreed with them to clear the old debt which we will honour.

“Also, someone who is a shareholder of the club has said they will pay the full debt in return for 51 per cent ownership of the club, so there is no real threat to Wimborne Town Football Club.

“If the club can’t pay, this shareholder has said he will step in, although we don’t particularly want that to happen because everything here on the financial side is working well on a day-to-day basis.

“There is no threat to the current players’ wages bill, but there were a few issues at the end of last year because of our wage bill before Alex Browne’s time here when we were massively over-budget, but we’ve dealt with that.

“We are in a position to go up. Our ground has passed the necessary criteria.

“What we don’t want to do is find ourselves promoted with this historical debt, so we are appealing to fans and local businesses to help us repay the debt, which is now £27,000.

“We’re looking to issue more shares for general release, if the current shareholders agree, to whoever is interested in buying them.

“Even within a week, this has proved pretty successful. I think we have raised £3,000 already.”

A spokesperson for HMRC said: “We are unable to discuss individual cases due to taxpayer confidentiality. If individuals or businesses owe a tax debt then it should be paid – in full and on time – irrespective of the amount.

“We do take a sympathetic approach to businesses that have genuine short-term difficulties in paying the tax they owe.

“Where appropriate, HMRC aims to come to an arrangement with them to give them time to pay and to avoid taking action that would lead to an otherwise viable business being declared insolvent by the courts.”